DESCRIPTION (adapted from the applicant?s abstract): The American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF) is a 501(c)(3) philanthropic organization with a commitment to expand and refine the body of knowledge of occupational therapy. The long-term objective of this project is to ensure that historical information, which provides the philosophical and theoretical foundation for Occupational Therapy that direct its practice and education today and in the future, does not remain in file boxes, but is available to OT practitioners and researchers through the Information Superhighway. The specific aims are: 1) to archive essential information on occupational therapy for students, educators, practitioners, and researchers; 2) to record the development and history of a key discipline in rehabilitation; and 3) to document the important role that women have played in occupational therapy throughout history. The National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy was founded in 1917, and changed its name to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) in 1923. The Archives were officially established in 1980 and include published materials, correspondence and memorabilia of the founders of occupational therapy, official papers and reports of AOTA, as well as non-book material. The PI and Co-investigator will review and categorize the archives as they currently exist and work with a part-time data entry clerk to enter essential archival material into the appropriate database. The information will be made available through the Internet on the AOTF web page. In order to ensure that the end-user is familiar with and understands what will be available on-line, a training class for AOTA members will be offered at the 1999 AOTA Annual Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. Members of the project staff will be available for questions and comments. Full instructions for use of the database will be available on-line.